British people have been maligned for decades for their unhealthy and crooked teeth. A new study says that American teeth are not better.
In a study published in the British Medical Journal, a team of experts from the United Kingdom and the United States wanted to find whether there's any truth to the belief. They analyzed data from thousands of people from the English Adult Dental Health Survey and the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Survey.
The researchers included data from people who are 25 years old and above and who went for a dental checkup. A total of 8,719 people from Britain and 9,786 from the United States were part education-based analyses. On the other hand, 7,184 people in Britain and 9,094 people from the United States were included in the analyses by income.
Their findings show that Americans do not have better teeth than Britons. In fact, the number of missing teeth is higher in Americans with an average of 7.31 compared to those from England with an average of 6.97. Furthermore, Americans were more likely to suffer from poor dental health.
The theory, which was portrayed in famous movies like Austin Powers, shows that British people have worse teeth than Americans. The researchers from the University College London found that the longstanding belief in the United States about British men is not true. In fact, by some measures, Americans' teeth are actually worse.
"There's a common belief in Hollywood and the media generally that Americans have perfect teeth. But we found that inequality between rich and the poor in the U.S. is much worse than in England. If you're rich in the U.S. you've got nice white straight teeth, but if you're poor your chances of good oral health are much lower," Richard Watt, professor in dental public health at UCL, said.
"Contrary to popular belief, our study showed that the oral health of U.S. citizens is not better than the English ... with Americans having significantly more missing teeth," discussed the researchers.
The study "Austin Powers bites back" added that "there are consistently wider educational and income oral health inequalities in the U.S. compared with England."
